Secret Meetings, Executive Departures, and Betting on Google Gemini: Can the New Siri Redeem Tim Cook's Last Stand?

Apple Inc.'s comprehensive lag in the field of artificial intelligence is seeking a turnaround through an Upper Management restructuring and a major product overhaul. According to Bloomberg, this belated self-rescue began with a secret high-level meeting in early 2025 and culminates in the all-new Siri set to debut at this week's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).

On June 7, Bloomberg disclosed that the meeting was held in a conference room near Apple's software engineering department, attended by core executives including several senior vice presidents, the Chief Operating Officer, and the Chief Financial Officer. The core agenda had only one item: Apple Intelligence has failed completely, and the major upgrade for the next-generation Siri is on the verge of delay, while Meta, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic are rapidly widening the gap. This meeting ultimately led to a fundamental restructuring of Apple's AI architecture and directly resulted in then-AI head John Giannandrea being stripped of most of his authority before subsequently leaving.

For Apple CEO Tim Cook, the failure of Apple Intelligence 1.0 was directly characterized by Bloomberg as "a stain on his resume." Cook subsequently broke convention, personally deeply intervening in the formulation of the AI roadmap and pressuring subordinates to accelerate progress—this is the rarest direct intervention at the product level in his more than ten years leading Apple.

Currently, the market's focus has shifted from "whether Apple realizes the problem" to "whether this belated transformation can be thorough enough."

A Secret Meeting Triggers Internal Admission of Apple's AI Crisis

According to Bloomberg, the meeting was chaired by then-Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams, with Cook himself not in attendance. Attendees included former head of interface design Alan Dye, Vision Pro founder Mike Rockwell, and several of Apple's top Upper Management personnel.

The core conclusion of the meeting was: the problems Apple faces in the AI field are not just technical, but systemic failures in culture, structure, and leadership. Decentralized decision-making, blurred lines of responsibility, and the long-term lack of sufficient priority given to AI internally—these issues were sharply amplified after ChatGPT emerged in late 2022. The report pointed out that generative AI had not even entered Apple's strategic vision when ChatGPT was released.

During the meeting, Craig Federighi, Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, led most of the discussion, but the key voice turned out to be Rockwell. Having just completed the launch of Vision Pro, although sales were dismal, he was still regarded internally as a driver of significant technological achievements and thus possessed considerable influence. Rockwell volunteered at the meeting, willing to serve as the "firefighter" for Apple's AI and Siri.

Reportedly, Rockwell initially hoped to become the head of Apple's overall AI business, reporting directly to Cook and fully replacing Giannandrea. However, Federighi explicitly opposed this, insisting that Rockwell be responsible only for Siri and continue to report to him, ensuring the Software Engineering department's dominance over AI and Siri.

Rockwell believed Federighi had been slow to recognize the importance of AI and lacked sufficient urgency. Additionally, Rockwell hoped to use this opportunity for promotion to Senior Vice President, but this request was also not granted. Nevertheless, he ultimately accepted the arrangement to lead Siri under Federighi.

On another front of personnel adjustments, Apple extensively hunted for a second AI leader for most of 2025, eventually poaching engineering executive Amar Subramanya from Google and Microsoft to be responsible for AI models and research, also reporting to Federighi.

Cook Breaks Convention, Personally Taking Charge of AI Strategy

According to Bloomberg, the severity of Apple's AI crisis forced Cook to change his usual management style.

In the past, he typically only participated in product demos and major decisions, leaving roadmap and daily decision-making authority to subordinates. But after the failure of Apple Intelligence, his involvement in AI exceeded that of any product project in the past decade.

Cook began to directly express preferences for AI features, unilaterally making some decisions, and pressuring executives like Federighi, urging them to "get it together," believing they had not treated the technology with the necessary seriousness from the start.

He also delivered a company-wide mobilization speech themed around AI.

New Siri: Rebuilt with Google Gemini, Lifting the "AI Blockade" on Multiple Hardware Products

Reportedly, after taking over Siri, Rockwell quickly replaced the original Siri management team with his core team trusted from the Vision Pro and visionOS projects.

At the same time, he led the initiation of investigations and evaluations of third-party AI solutions, ultimately driving Apple to reach an agreement with Google to replace the underlying models and cloud computing systems powering Siri with the Gemini model and Google Cloud technology.

Also involved in this deal were Federighi and Eddy Cue, Senior Vice President of Services.

At the product level, Apple's stance has shifted significantly. Executives like Federighi had publicly denied the necessity of chatbots and standalone AI apps during the launch of Apple Intelligence, but now a standalone Siri app competing with ChatGPT will be launched.

Apple had previously criticized the use of generative AI in camera apps, stating that photos should be "personal records of what actually happened," while this WWDC will showcase new features allowing users to fill in photo gaps and change shooting perspectives using generative AI.

The report states that insufficient AI capabilities have become the direct cause of delays for multiple Apple hardware products.

The desktop robot, originally scheduled for release between 2026 and 2027, has been postponed to 2028; the smart home display has been delayed from its original 2024 target to late 2026 (at the earliest); and smart glasses have been pushed back from the planned early 2027 to late 2027.

Cook's Legacy and Ternus's Challenge

Reportedly, this WWDC serves both as Cook's swan song as CEO and the starting point for Apple's AI reconstruction project.

Cook will step down this September, handing the company over to John Ternus. Ternus takes over an Apple that is struggling to prove it can still lead technological change. He has spearheaded the development of glasses, pendant devices, AirPods with cameras, and home devices, but shortcomings in AI capabilities have consistently hindered the official launch of these products.

For Rockwell, the release of the new Siri is the most significant delivery of his career. If successful, it will consolidate his position in Apple's Upper Management and lay the foundation for a larger role in the Ternus era.

Bloomberg believes that the issue facing Apple is no longer "whether it recognizes the importance of AI," but "whether the changes initiated by that key meeting are sufficient to ensure Apple's dominance in the new generation of computing platforms."